Jurors deliberate in murder trial of man who talked to Dr. Phil

The defendant, who told Dr. Phil his companion left him, could face life

By Brian Rogers |
June 4, 2014

Mark Castellano enters the courtroom before closing arguments Wednesday. He is accused of killing Michelle Warner during a September 2012 fight in the apartment they shared with their 3-year-old son.

Photo By Thomas B. Shea/Freelance

Friends weep as they look at photo album of Michelle Warner, 31, before the start of closing arguments in a Houston courtroom.

Photo By http://www.precinct3.org

Montgomery County Commissioner James Noack. The second-year commissioner is the subject of EEOC complaints alleging sex and age discrimination by former and current county employees. Noack has denied discriminating against anyone.

That's what lawyers for Mark Castellano, 39, said Wednesday in closing arguments of Castellano's murder trial in the September 2012 death of Michelle Warner.

"She took a swing at him, and he knew there was more to it," defense attorney Eric Davis told jurors. "He grabs her and falls forward."

Davis pointed to testimony of the couple's volatile relationship and 31-year-old Warner's trouble with drug use to argue that they got into a fight in the bedroom of their Houston apartment. Warner took a swing, forcing Castellano to grab her by the throat and when the two fell, it crushed her windpipe, the lawyer said.

It was an explanation that drew the ire of prosecutors who said Castellano's attorneys were blaming the victim for her own death.

"He squeezed and squeezed Michelle Warner's neck until she stopped breathing," Assistant District Attorney Jamie Reyna said in closings. "Ever since that last gasp, he's been trying to get away with murder."

The jury began deliberating after closing arguments in state District Judge Jan Krocker's court. They are set to return Thursday.

Reyna said Castellano strangled Warner, with their 3-year-old son in the next room, then hid her body in the closet. He then drove the child to West Texas to stay with his parents in Odessa and told everyone who asked that she abandoned her two children.

"He's thinking, 'If I make her look bad, I get away with it,' " Reyna said.

Castellano later told Houston police that he took a short nap, then drove the eight hours back to Houston where he put Warner's body in a plastic container and drove back to West Texas, where he left the body in a shallow grave near Midland.

Days later, after repeatedly lying to police and family, Castellano agreed to an interview with Dr. Phil, on a segment taped for the national television show, in which he claimed Warner walked out of their Houston apartment after a fight and disappeared.

Castellano later told police it was his fault Warner was dead, and he gave several versions of what happened, including that he snapped her neck and that he choked her.

He also told investigators where to find her body.

If the jury convicts Castellano of murder, the trial will move to a punishment phase, where he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Jurors could also convict him of manslaughter, capping the maximum sentence at 20 years.